MA - Vanessa Marcotte, 27, murdered, Princeton, 7 Aug 2016 #1

[ThinkHard]

The local paper for Worcester is the Telegram and Gazette, but there is a more local paper to Princeton that is a 5 town regional publication released each Thursday called the Landmark. The Landmark publishes all the police and fire logs for the five towns. Below is the fire log for Princeton for Sunday. PS the five towns the Landmark
Publication is for are: Paxton, Princeton, Rutland, Sterling, & Holden.

 

[ThinkHard]

And here is the police log

 

[ThinkHard]

URL OF Police log

http://www.thelandmark.com/news/2016-08-11/Fire_(and)_Police/Police_Notebook.html

 

[wachusett]

I haven't been able to determine which house on the road is Marcotte's mothers. I believe it's "next door" to 103 Brooks Station Road, because another article identified the residents at 103 as the "next door neighbors."

Here's the Princeton GIS system -- it shows all the lots in town, owners, etc. Brooks Station Road is very wooded, but there are actually a lot of houses on that road.

http://maps.massgis.state.ma.us/map_ol/princeton.php

 

[ThinkHard]

Article from Landmark (turns out the same local paper did a story on her road races a few years ago)

http://www.thelandmark.com/news/2016-08-11/Front_Page/Woman_found_murdered_in_Princeton_woods.html

 

[Inthedetails]

Exactly. I agree it would be more likely had she grown up in Princeton but it still isn't impossible. There aren't a lot of Bancroft kids from Leominster, most are from Holden, Shrewsbury, Worcester, Paxton, Princeton, Sterling etc. Also it appears her aunt and uncle lived in Princteon for the last few decades so it's also possible she had cousins in the Wachusett school district.

I'm just thinking for two relatively crazy things to happen to two people about the same age from tiny towns where nothing ever happens, it just seems like there's a chance they could be connected.
After all not even the Rutland mans family can make sense of why he turned around on the pike. But id think someone who committed murder 36hours before might just have a good reason for doing something that crazy.

I also think there is a chance the crime is connected to that car accident. They don't have to know each other for there to be a connection. The proximity is enough of a lead to make it worth following, imo.

Excellent sleuthing on this, WS. Thanks.

 

[ThinkHard]

I haven't been able to determine which house on the road is Marcotte's mothers. I believe it's "next door" to 103 Brooks Station Road, because another article identified the residents at 103 as the "next door neighbors."

Here's the Princeton GIS system -- it shows all the lots in town, owners, etc. Brooks Station Road is very wooded, but there are actually a lot of houses on that road.

http://maps.massgis.state.ma.us/map_ol/princeton.php

I believe it's 109 Brooks station road. They showed a picture of the home on TV and it had 3rd story dormer windows. This is the only house on the road with them:

 

[Danyel]

double post

 

[ThinkHard]

I also think there is a chance the crime is connected to that car accident. They don't have to know each other for there to be a connection. The proximity is enough of a lead to make it worth following, imo.

Excellent sleuthing on this, WS. Thanks.

Also if you knew your car contained evidence that might connect you to a crime and shame your family (of which he has a lot of local family members), it might make sense to someone in that state that getting into an accident might destroy some evidence.

But this is also creepy...
Princeton and Rutland border each other all via back roads, but if you lookup the recommended route from the center of Rutland to the center of Princeton they have you go via Broks Station Rd.

 

[Danyel]

Do you happen to know where along Brooks station road she was found? Which side of the road? North or south of her moms?

My guess is same side of the road as moms, and north

 

[ThinkHard]

double post

That was my impression too. Which is why I wondered if the supposed ping from the Mt Barn could have picked up her cell phone in the woods because it's between the Mt barn and her moms. If she was 100 yards in from Brooks Station Road....I wonder how far that would have put her from 31?

 

[carbuff]

So how would they know about the 2:30'ish "ping" at the restaurant area if they didn't get worried until 3'ish. I'm not questioning you, but rather trying to figure out how the app works that they used to try to find her. Does it give "last known location" or is it something that is done immediately.

In other words, if they checked the app at 3, would it give the location where the phone was at 2:30?[/QUOTE]

It could also be a safety app that sends a message if you don't cancel it. You enter a time and a help-me message, and when the time comes, it pops up a message asking if you're okay. If you don't cancel, it sends the message to your chosen contacts. It was designed for dating situations, but I've known several people who use it for running, solo hiking or biking, or things like that.




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[carbuff]

My guess is same side of the road as moms, and north

Photos from the Boston-area TV stations showed the intersection to the south, but that could have just been where LE parked.


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[Tempura]

Scent dogs are NOT trained to find any human scent, that would just be dumb. How would they find anyone if dogs were just trained to track any live human scent. Do you have any idea how many people run that road?

Scent dogs are trained to be introduced to one specific persons scent at a time and track that persons specific scent. Not just people in general.

Also the dad was part of the search party not just like running around on his own. He was only notified around the same time police were and would have to drive from Leominster to get there to begin looking. He was searching with everyone else buttons to stop because his smell was throwing off the dogs.

Finally I know everyone responsds differently in tragedy but from re very first article I read on his interview it just seemed odd to me in a way I can't entirely put my finger on.

What I meant to say is that any human scent will interfere. They need a trail that has not been contaminated by any other human scent. While the road itself is frequented by runners, the woods would not have been contaminated. Even police personnel need to follow certain procedures when using a tracking dog so that they don't throw him off his trail.

 

[ThinkHard]

Photos from the Boston-area TV stations showed the intersection to the south, but that could have just been where LE parked.


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They did say she was found down a cart path wide enough for a car to drive down about a 100 yards from the side of the road and about a half mile from her moms house.

When looking at a map I can only see one obvious cart path going into the woods and that's off the west side of the road opposite of her moms. And more like a mile up the road in the direction of town.

 

[Danyel]

That was my impression too. Which is why I wondered if the supposed ping from the Mt Barn could have picked up her cell phone in the woods because it's between the Mt barn and her moms. If she was 100 yards in from Brooks Station Road....I wonder how far that would have put her from 31?

looking at the map, it seems quite a ways from 31/Mountain Barn

 

[ThinkHard]

What I meant to say is that any human scent will interfere. They need a trail that has not been contaminated by any other human scent. While the road itself is frequented by runners, the woods would not have been contaminated. Even police personnel need to follow certain procedures when using a tracking dog so that they don't throw him off his trail.

I don't think he was doing anything different then the other searchers though. It was his specific scent that was throwing off the dogs.

 

[ThinkHard]

looking at the map, it seems quite a ways from 31/Mountain Barn

What looks quite a distance from the mt barn?

 

[Inthedetails]

They did say she was found down a cart path wide enough for a car to drive down about a 100 yards from the side of the road and about a half mile from her moms house.

When looking at a map I can only see one obvious cart path going into the woods and that's off the west side of the road opposite of her moms. And more like a mile up the road in the direction of town.

Helpful info. Last night I was thinking through the case and wondered how he got the body where it was found.

At the moment, I'm thinking he spotted her while he was in a car? Did he get her into his car or did he get out of the car and nab her? Did he transport her in the car to the dump location or carry her?

Knowing it's a cart path does open up possibilities.

 

[ThinkHard]

looking at the map, it seems quite a ways from 31/Mountain Barn

By the way the crow flies through the woods there is only about a mile btw her house and Mt Barn. They are actually almost directly through the woods fr her moms actually.

By road it's about 3 miles to MT barn wether you go north or south on Brooks Station Road to loop around to 31.

They are pretty close.